Materials called "metallic glasses" or amorphous metals are generally known (see, for instance, "Zeitschrift fur Metallkunde", vol. 69, 1978, no. 4, pages 212 to 220 or "Elektrotechnik und Maschinenbau", vol. 97, September 1980, 23 no. 9, pages 378 to 385). These materials are generally special alloys which are prepared by means of special processes from at least two predetermined starting elements or alloys also called alloy partners. These special alloys exhibit a vitreous amorphous structure instead of the crystalline structure of conventional metals and therefore have properties or property combinations which are superior to those of crystalline metallic materials. Metallic glasses can excel over conventional crystalline alloys particularly by exhibiting high wear and corrosion resistance, great hardness and tensile strength with simultaneously good ductility, as well as by possessing special magnetic properties.
Metallic glasses have heretofore generally been produced by rapid quenching from the melt. The rapid quenching method requires, however, that at least one dimension of the material is smaller than about 0.1 mm. It has further been proposed to produce metallic glasses by a solid state reaction if one of the alloy partners diffuses quickly into the other, while the other partner is practically immobile at a predetermined, relatively low temperature. Such a diffusion reaction is also generally called anomalous fast diffusion. For such a reaction, certain energy conditions must be present (see, for instance, "Physical Review Letters", vol. 51, no. 5, August 1983, pages 415 to 418, or "Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids", 61 and 62, 1984, pages 817 to 22). Thus, particularly, an exothermic reaction of the two alloy partners must be assumed.
In the fast diffusion method, layers of the alloy partners less than 0.001 mm thick are stacked alternatingly on top of each other and the so-developed sandwich-like preliminary product is heated at temperatures typical of the method which is between 100 and 300.degree. C. An intermediate product is formed as semi-finished material being a thin layer of the noncrystalline structure of the metallic glass. Subsequently, this semi-finished material can then be processed from the very thin metallic glass into a metallic body as the end product, in a manner known per se.
However, it would be desirable for various applications if metallic glasses in any form and dimension, especially with larger thicknesses, were available. In order to obtain such thicker metallic glasses, it has been proposed for fast diffusion method applications to mix metal powders in the desired composition, to compact them by deformation, and to convert the preliminary product so formed by fast anamalous diffusion into the desired intermediate product (see, for instance, the prior cited publication "A Review of the Economy"). With this method, however, several difficulties arise. The oxide layers found on the surface of the metal powders must be removed by the deformation. In addition, the structure resulting from the compacting and deformation is very irregular.